CES: Interview with Mark Cuban and Bud Mayo

We had a chance to chat with billionaire entrepreneur, Mark Cuban, and CEO of Cinedigm, Bud Mayo, about their work together to bring live 3D entertainment into movie theaters across the country. The technology promises to be a completely different theater-going experience. Cuban...

TechCrunch - 3 hours ago

Dell officially unveils Adamo, Mini 10

The PC maker continues expanding Netbook lineup, but goes high-end with luxury notebook lineup. Details on Adamo are thin.

CNET News - 3 hours ago

CES: Wireless USB 1.1 coming, devices appear

At the Consumer Electronics Show, wireless USB devices made an appearance.

CNET News - 51 minutes ago

Jerry Yang and Sue Decker Talk About Yahoo's Connected TV at CES [BoomTown]

Usually, BoomTown plays the stalker of Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang. But, with an interesting product to show off, this time he invited me and also Walt Mossberg to take an on-the-floor look-see at the company’s new “Connected TV” effort yesterday. Wading into what has...

AllThingsD - 2 hours ago

Lexus' Trial Balloon On Car Spam

Lexus has announced plans to roll out a system that will allow the company to send audio messages to its cars, which most people immediately realized meant we should get ready for spam in our cars. It's pretty obvious that's what Lexus is thinking when it says things like:...

Techdirt - 3 minutes ago

Twtvite Makes Organizing Tweetups Easy

From the developer who brought us twtpoll, Felipe Coimbra, now there is twtvite, an easy way to use Twitter or Facebook to create a micro-invite for your friends and followers. You create an invite on the twtvite site, and then micro-message with a tiny URL on Twitter or...

TechCrunch - 27 minutes ago

Wiki Service AboutUs Secures $2.5 million From Voyager Capital

Portland-based AboutUs has secured a $2.5 million Series B round of financing from Voyager Capital with the VC firm's managing director Erik Benson joining its board, reports TechFlash. The company operates a wiki for information primarily about small businesses, organizations,...

TechCrunch - 39 minutes ago

Chrome gets Mac deadline, extensions foundation

Google has revealed its goal for releasing Mac OS X and Linux versions of its browser. Also, cutting-edge Chrome sports early work to enable extensions.

CNET News - 3 minutes ago

Deconstructing Ballmer

CNET News' Ina Fried sat down with Microsoft's CEO at CES. The interview takes place against one of the more turbulent periods in that stories company's history.

CNET News - 27 minutes ago

Web videos of Oakland shooting fuel emotions, protests

The quick spread of online videos taken by onlookers of a BART police officer shooting an unarmed man angered the community and played a big role in its intense response.

CNET News - 27 minutes ago

Hearst Says Seattle P-I Will Either Be Sold, Close Or Go Web-Only

Following yesterday's leak to a local TV station that Hearst Corp.was planning to sell or close the Seattle Post Intelligencer, the parent company has confirmed that it is seeking a buyer for the daily, the paper itself reported. The unidentified source who tipped off KING-TV...

paidContent - 39 minutes ago

Green gadgets get middling report card at CES

Amid a green-themed Consumer Electronics Show, Greenpeace says electronics firms are getting more eco-conscious to meet consumer demand but fall short of what's possible.

CNET News - 1 hour ago

The iPhone Non-Killer [Digital Daily]

Palm evangelists and CEOs convinced that the company's new Pre handset is anything more than table stakes at the handset poker game would do well to consider two bits of Apple (AAPL) news and rumor which suggest that Cupertino may be hard at work on a next generation handset...

AllThingsD - 2 hours ago

I'd Trade 10 Facebook Friends for a Whopper

Burger King has introduced a new Facebook application that is getting lots of attention - "Whopper Sacrifice." The concept is essentially this: delete 10 of your Facebook friends and get a free Whopper. Each time you remove someone, that action is broadcast to your news feed –...

Mashable - 27 minutes ago

Setup Your Own Job Interview with MeetingWave

MeetingWave is an interesting new twist on the MeetUp concept. As opposed to organizing group events, the idea is to specify who you'd like to meet, post an invite, and accept or reject requests to attend. For example, let's say you’ve got an idea for a Web application and want...

Mashable - 27 minutes ago

Walt and Katie Take Some Gadgets For a Test Drive [Mossblog]

Yesterday at CES, Walt and Katie Boehret got their hands on some as-yet unseen gadgets, including waterproof military laptops, games that teach kids how to play real musical instruments and yes, those uber-hip 3D glasses.

AllThingsD - 2 hours ago

DRM Screws Users Again: eBooks About To Disappear Due To DRM Provider Shut Down

Around here, it's basically preaching to the choir, so most of you probably recognize this already, but buying anything with DRM on it is basically asking for trouble down the road. The latest example? An eBook seller named Fictionwise has realized that one of the companies...

Techdirt - 1 hour ago

TechCrunch Poll: What Would Make You Switch Search Engines?

Although Google keeps gaining search engine market share, people's loyalties are far from locked in. J.P. Morgan Internet analyst Imran Khan recently conducted a survey to see if Web consumers would be willing to switch search engines. He found that 62 percent would. The...

TechCrunch - 1 hour ago

Top Headlines Of The Week From mocoNews and paidContent:UK

We've kicked off the New Year into full gear with our own Staci Kramer, Tameka Kee and Tricia Duryee covering the giant Consumer Electronics Show. Their coverage can be seen at our CES 2009 channels on both paidContent.org and mocoNews.net. Our top headlines of the first full...

paidContent - 1 hour ago

Four cents a song makes SlotRadio hard to ignore

In this case, the key to success boils down to clever song selection. SanDisk just made things a lot more interesting

CNET News - 1 hour ago

Software Developer Realizes That Pirates Are Giving Him Market Feedback

One of the more important points made in Matt Mason's book, The Pirate's Dilemma is that piracy almost always is a leading indicator for what the market wants, but isn't being delivered. This is a point that's extremely difficult for those whose content is being pirated to grasp...

Techdirt - 2 hours ago

Google Gets A New Favicon, Again.It's Uh.. Colorful

Generally when a site changes its favicon (the tiny image that typically appears next to your URL in the browser) nobody really notices or cares. Unless you're Google. Back in June the company unveiled a brand new stylized 'g' icon with a blue background. It was sleek, but a...

TechCrunch - 2 hours ago

Ex-MySpacers Launch Corkin, A Social Classifieds Portal

Corkin is a new web service that combines classifieds listings with a set of social tools that the company says differentiates it from juggernauts such as Craigslist and eBay's Kijiji. Like corkboards you'd find outside of local supermarkets, libraries and on college campuses,...

TechCrunch - 2 hours ago

Can You Trademark Awareness Of A Disease?

BoingBoing has the latest story of trademark insanity, where a "charity" focused on the rare, but apparently serious disease of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH), is trying to trademark the phrase "Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness" and appears to be threatening other...

Techdirt - 3 hours ago

Week in review: Two tech shows, minus icons

Macworld and CES were most notable for who wasn't there, while the search market heated up. Also: Obama to postpone digital TV switchover?

CNET News - 3 hours ago

Red Hat: JBoss growing twice as fast as Linux

The company's JBoss business is booming, it says, paving the way for it to compete well beyond its roots in the operating system--perhaps tackling the application business in earnest.

CNET News - 3 hours ago

Obama Is Urged to Open High-Tech Exports

An expert panel said on Thursday that as president Barack Obama should change regulations on high-tech exports and on immigration by scientists and engineers.

NYTimes - Technology - 5 hours ago

Apple Still A Big Fan Of DRM Outside Of Music

A Skeptical Cynic among our readers points us to a post over on the EFF's blog about how Apple is still a huge supporter of DRM, despite getting the record labels to dump DRM from music files. This isn't a huge surprise. In the past we noted that even after Steve Jobs came out...

Techdirt - 6 hours ago

Police Study Way to Jam Cellphones in an Attack

New York police officials are looking at the feasibility of disrupting service after revelations that the Mumbai gunmen received transmissions during their November attack.

NYTimes - Technology - 5 hours ago

Google tunes up Chrome development

The open-source browser gets some updates, including a new version of WebKit, and early adopters can now pick from three levels of stability.

CNET News - 7 hours ago

Google's Long Tail: $16,000 Per Advertiser, Times One Million [MediaMemo]

How did Google become the most powerful company in the media business? One client at a time -- many times over.

AllThingsD - 5 hours ago

Thanks to Mashable's Valued Sponsors

Thanks to this week’s advertisers and partners for helping us grow to be the #1 website on social news and technology. Advertise with us and get noticed. Help us to help you. Mashable is seeking out site sponsors for our large, diverse audience — social media users,...

Mashable - 4 hours ago

Ring In The New Year With Top Jobs In Digital Media

For those on the job hunt or just exploring possibilities, some choice listings on our job board: —Patch Media: Director of Product Management—Howcast Media: Director of Ad Sales—Joost: Director of Content Strategy & Acquisition—Zumobi: Director of Brand Partnerships Check out...

paidContent - 4 hours ago

Broadband Content Bits: Disney XD; WB's 'Rockville'; Cookiemag; NIN

—Disney (NYSE: DIS) rebrands toon channel as Disney XD: In a push to reach school-aged (6-14) boys, the WSJ says Disney is rebranding its Toon Disney cable channel as Disney XD, and building out an accompanying Website. The new Disney XD brand aims to mesh TV, videogames, social...

paidContent - 4 hours ago

Would video games get you to join the Army?

The U.S. Army is using a video game center to inform people about Army life. But would video games be enough to get you to join the Armed Forces?

CNET News - 4 hours ago

AMD aims supercomputer at mobile gaming, movies

The massively parallel "Fusion Render Cloud" machine is intended to deliver high-definition content to mobile devices.

CNET News - 4 hours ago

Daily Tidbits: Hacker gets 30 years in Turkish jail

Maksym Yastremski, the alleged mastermind behind the T.J. Maxx credit card hack, has received 30 years in jail for his alleged involvement in attacks on Turkish banks.

CNET News - 4 hours ago

Can't Compete? Sue For Patent Infringement!

It happens over and over again... if you can't innovate to compete, why not litigate to compete? Broadband Reports points out that Charter Communications is now suing Verizon for patent infringement relating to Verizon's FiOS fiber optic internet connections. The article makes...

Techdirt - 4 hours ago

Humble origins of Microsoft's Tag iPhone app

Microsoft spends billions of dollars each year on research and development, but it spent only $50 on its new Tag application--the price of a Starbucks gift card.

CNET News - 5 hours ago

Goldman Sachs: IT-spending growth to halt

Investment bank is projecting zero percent growth for the industry in 2009, which should portend more money for the dominant software vendors--and less for the smaller ones.

CNET News - 5 hours ago

10 Most Common Misconceptions About User Experience Design

Whitney Hess is an independent user experience designer, writer and consultant based in New York City. She authors the blog Pleasure and Pain. When I tell people that I am a user experience designer, I usually get a blank stare. I try to follow it up quickly by saying that I make...

Mashable - 5 hours ago

Green news harvest: Exxon CEO calls for carbon tax

In a first, the CEO of the oil giant Exxon calls for a carbon tax, rather than a cap and trade. Meanwhile, small solar start-ups Heliovolt and Spectrawatt hit hurdles.

CNET News - 5 hours ago

Energy portions of stimulus plan spur debate

After Obama sets goal of doubling renewable energy in three years, more details and concerns emerge on the clean tech-related policy incentives from Washington.

CNET News - 5 hours ago

Five Things Google Could Do To Save Newspapers

Google thrives on curating the flow of information from media outlets, so it has a stake in the future of newspapers. But should the internet behemoth necessarily intervene to try and save newspapers? Some think not. But here are five things it could do, if it wanted to.

Wired: Tech Biz - 6 hours ago

@ CES: DoubleFusion's Epstein: Don't Count Sony Out Of The Console Wars Just Yet

News that pre-holiday sales of Sony's PS3 console slipped year-over-year (in contrast to marked growth for the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft's Xbox 360) led some analysts to conclude that the PS3 is all but defeated in the next-gen console wars. Well, some big brand advertisers...

paidContent - 8 hours ago

Dell acquires Allin for $12 million

Dell snaps up Microsoft IT consulting company Allin, in a move to boost its consulting business round such areas as collaboration and business applications.

CNET News - 6 hours ago

@ CES: Sony Keynote: Tom Hanks Steals The Show

Last night, Tom Hanks was starring in the Apollo 13 rerun playing in my hotel room. Today, he's stealing the show at CES, starting with a devastating send-up of Gary Shapiro and a riff on how he could have saved the world if he'd only been one of the 600 people to buy a Betamax,...

paidContent - 1 day ago

MySpace And Wall Street Journal Partner (?) to Send One MySpacer To Davos

MySpace, like YouTube, is holding a contest to send one MySpace user to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland later this month. MySpace has teamed with the Wall Street Journal on the contest, which is fascinating because (I imagine) there is exactly zero overlap...

TechCrunch - 17 hours ago

Amazon releases Web-based EC2 console

Through Amazon Web Services' Web-based management console, the cloud-computing service enters territory already claimed by formal and informal partners.

CNET News - 8 hours ago

It's Not A Television, It's Just Another Screen

A popular theme at this year's Consumer Electronics Show is merging the internet with the television. As the WSJ reports, a number of companies have announced products that aim to bring net content into the living room: some LG televisions will be able to directly access...

Techdirt - 7 hours ago

Stay healthy while using your PC

Don't let minor computer-related aches become major pains. The key is to try various ergonomic alternatives to find the PC setup that makes the difference for you.

CNET News - 7 hours ago

Live From CES, It's All Things Digital [BoomTown]

BoomTown, MediaMemo, Personal Technology Godfather Walt Mossberg and Mossberg Solution columnist Katie Boehret traveled to Las Vegas this week for the Consumer Electronics Show. They're navigating the crowds in order to bring you the most important, the most interesting, and the...

AllThingsD - 23 hours ago

TV Decoder: Obama Recommends Delay in Digital TV Switch

Six weeks before the nation's television stations are scheduled to convert to digital transmission, the Obama administration is asking Congress to consider a delay.

NYTimes - Technology - 1 day ago

Leaked Investor Email From Tapulous Say Breakeven December, More Funding, New Products

Tapulous CEO Bart Decrem sent out an email to investors yesterday updating them on the status of the iPhone/Android focused company. It was forwarded to us, and we reprint it below. The company makes the popular Tap Tap Revenge application as well as Tweetsville and others. Like...

TechCrunch - 12 hours ago

MySpace and Yahoo on Your TV: Nice, But Why?

MySpace, Yahoo, and Intel have unveiled a joint plan on CES to offer consumers a way to use their favorite social network directly on the TV. Imagine a tiny application that shows up on TVs and other devices equipped with Intel’s special chipset that enables consumers to...

Mashable - 1 day ago

@ CES: Fox Mobile Delays New Branding Intiative; Blames Economy

News Corp (NYSE: NWS). announced in October that it was overhauling its mobile division after buying the remaining 49 percent state in Jamba from VeriSign (NSDQ: VRSN). As part of the restructuring, News Corp. created the Fox Mobile Group, and planned aggressive new initiatives,...

paidContent - 10 hours ago

Is Google building its own router?

The rumor came earlier this week, but is there any truth to it? Probably, but with a caveat, says analyst Jon Oltsik.

CNET News - 21 hours ago

Broadcasts To Mobile Devices To Start In 22 Cities

TV stations in 22 U.S. cities say they will start broadcasting their signals this year in a format designed to be received by mobile devices like cell phones, MP3 players, GPS units and in-car entertainment systems. The broadcasts would most likely be free, would provide access...

Wired: Tech Biz - 8 hours ago

Cost-Concious Consumers Opting For iPod Touch Over iPhone?

Mobile ad network AdMob released December figures Thursday, and while our usual caveat that these figures are from only one vendor still stands, they nonetheless highlight some interesting trends. Most notably, AdMob saw a jump in the number of ads it served up to iPod Touch...

paidContent - 8 hours ago

Obama urges Congress to postpone DTV transition

In a letter sent to Congress Thursday, the Obama transition team asked Congress to consider postponing the under-funded national switch to digital broadcasting.

CNET News - 21 hours ago

Troubles of Satyam Could Benefit Rivals and 2 U.S. Companies

Big winners from the fallout are likely to be two American companies, Accenture and I.B.M., as competitors begin angling for a share of Satyam's nearly $2 billion in annual revenue.

NYTimes - Technology - 15 hours ago

Windows 7 beta ready to go

MSDN, TechBeta, and TechNet subscribers can get their hands on the software now, while the general public will get to test-drive the new OS starting Friday.

CNET News - 1 day ago

CES 2009: The year of the gimmick?

Walking the floor at this gadget fest, there's a lot of cool stuff on display that qualifies for the title of "in search of a practical purpose."

CNET News - 1 day ago

MacWorld vs CES: The Battle for Twitter Buzz

I'm not at MacWorld or CES, but there have been enough tweets about the event that it almost feels like I'm there. Trendrr has done some analysis of the buzz surrounding the events using its graphing tools, displaying how many tweets relating to each event are showing up over...

Mashable - 1 day ago

Skype thrives amid tough economy

Skype may be one of the only technology companies experiencing a boom as the economy tanks.

CNET News - 21 hours ago

Ballmer: Google, Google, the economy, Google

In an interview with CNET News, Microsoft CEO talks about Windows, taking software to the Web, and competing with the search king. But there's no escaping the bad economy.

CNET News - 22 hours ago

Burger King: Delete 10 Facebook friends, get a free Whopper

The fast-food chain has a new Facebook app that will give you a coupon for a free burger if you start trimming down that friends list. What it won't do: trim down your waistline.

CNET News - 1 day ago

Self-Publishers Merge, As Author Solutions Buys Rival Xlibris

Leading print-on-demand publisher Author Solutions has bought rival Xlibris, WSJ reports. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Bloomington, Indiana-based Author Solutions runs self-publishing units AuthorHouse and iUniverse. Combined, the three have released 19,000 titles last...

paidContent - 15 hours ago

@BreakingNewsOn: From Twitter Account To Public News Wire Service

If you're a news junkie and you're on Twitter, there's a good chance that you're following @BreakingNewsOn, an account that often actually breaks news before any other media organization does, ranging from political news to natural disasters and other noteworthy events from...

TechCrunch - 19 hours ago

Fox News Doesn't Understand Fair Use; Or the Web

Fair use laws, which, among other things, allow for people to take clips from broadcast TV and add their own commentary, have been an important part of the development of the political blogopshere. Alas, Fox News doesn't find it amusing, and has forced the shutdown of...

Mashable - 1 day ago

@ CES: CEA's Shapiro On State Of The Industry: Economy Sucks But CE Can Save The Day

It's cheerleader time for Gary Shapiro, the president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, pulling out all the stops to rev up the troops at CES before this morning's keynote by Sony's Sir Howard Stringer. Buried in the middle of it all—a projection that the industry...

paidContent - 1 day ago

The Entire Internal Microsoft Memo on New Dell and Verizon Deal [BoomTown]

BoomTown loves a good memo and here's one that two of Microsoft's top online execs, Yusuf Mehdi and Satya Nadella sent out about the deal the tech giant signed with Dell and Verizon to distribute its search and other products. Microsoft is opening its fat wallet to do such deal...

AllThingsD - 1 day ago

AOL Reorganizes Products Division Following Executive Departure

AOL (NYSE: TWX) is reshuffling parts of its products division with the departure of Kevin Conroy as AOL's EVP, products, for an executive post at Univision.  AOL Video, AOL Radio, Winamp, SHOUTcast, widgets and a few other areas are being removed from the Products &...

paidContent - 1 day ago

Time for vendors to stop foisting IE onto consumers

Adobe Systems has been force-feeding Microsoft's Web browser to its customers. Shouldn't Mozilla's Firefox and other browser makers get a say in the matter?

CNET News - 1 day ago

Five useful places to find financial data on the Web

Want to start researching a stock portfolio? We've compiled a list of five services that will help you do just that.

CNET News - 20 hours ago

Macworld of the future: music, pros, schwag

There's definitely a core group of Macworld attendees that want to preserve the show without Apple. But getting consensus on a strategy could be difficult.

CNET News - 1 day ago

3DVU announces Way2Go 3D mobile mapping

Watch out, Google Maps for Mobile. One company thinks it has a better 3D navigational experience for Symbian and Windows Mobile phones.

CNET News - 23 hours ago

Consumers Union Wants Congress To Delay Digital TV Transition

Now, we all agree that the FCC has screwed up the conversion to digital TV for over-the-air TV watchers, especially with the "coupon" program running out of money. But, it's still pretty ridiculous for Consumers Union to ask Congress to delay the transition (found via Consumers...

Techdirt - 1 day ago

LogRhythm Joins Effort to Secure Online Payments-Increases Focus On Log Security

LogRhythm just joined the Payment Card Industry Security Council (PCI) with the goal of making log info more secure. While the PCI group is focused on payment security--it was founded by American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide, and...

TechCrunch - 16 hours ago

CES Wire: Netflix-Vizio; Sling Media-DISH Network; MySpace-TV Sets

—Netflix to go hi-def, courtesy of Vizio: Netflix (NSDQ: NFLX) has struck a deal with TV and electronics company Vizio to stream movies on new Vizio TVs featuring its Connected HDTV platform—without the need for an external device. Vizio expects to ship the new sets to retailers...

paidContent - 1 day ago

Ford touts its leadership in in-car connectivity

During a CES keynote address, Alan Mulally, the CEO of the automotive giant, talked up his company's initiatives in getting Internet-based applications into millions of its cars.

CNET News - 15 hours ago

20% Of Teens Send Sexually Explicit Photos Of Themselves?

Sure, we've seen all sorts of moral panic-type reports about kids not thinking so much about the consequences of what content they reveal about themselves online, but it still strikes me as a bit unlikely that one in five teens reports sending sexually explicit photos of...

Techdirt - 16 hours ago

Facebook's Mantra: Use Facebook Connect Or Don't Connect At All [MediaMemo]

Want access to Facebook' user base, which has now cracked 150 million? Then you're going to need to play by Facebook's rules. Last week it sued Power.com, a social network aggregator, because the company allowed Facebook users to plug into the site without actually visiting...

AllThingsD - 17 hours ago

YouTube Is Changing How We Think About Video

Whenever we talk about changes impacting the movie industry or the television industry, there's always someone who chimes in with claims about "how will we be able to make $200 million movies any more?" Of course, that question has a few false premises hidden in there -- such as...

Techdirt - 19 hours ago

Microsoft's Bach: we'd do Zune differently

Entertainment and Devices President Robbie Bach insists to financial analysts that, given a second chance, the company would still do the Zune

CNET News - 19 hours ago

Hired via Facebook? Fired via Facebook

We've seen stories of people being fired over email and even text message before, but now there's a story of a Canadian spa worker fired via Facebook (via Michael Geist). The woman still got dressed and went to in to work that day because she thought it was a joke. Using Facebook...

Techdirt - 22 hours ago

HOW TO: Survive in Tomorrow's Online Entertainment Industry

Brian Wallace is a social media consultant. He authors a blog at nowsourcing.